Oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of ethane offers large reductions in energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions when compared to conventional steam cracking for ethylene production; however, catalytic ODH of ethane using co-fed O₂ requires expensive air separation. As an alternative, we are investigating novel core-shell catalysts that utilize lattice oxygen (O²⁻) as the sole oxidant and operate in a cyclic redox mode. In this work, redox catalysts having 1, 3 and 6 monolayer (ML) equivalents of MoO₃ on α-Fe₂O₃ and a stoichiometric ferric molybdate, Fe₂(MoO₄)₃, were prepared, characterized by powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), diffuse-reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), and temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and evaluated for ethane ODH in a cyclic redox mode at 600 °C. The characterization data are consistent with a core-shell structure for the calcined MoO₃/Fe₂O₃ catalysts with a mixed Mo-Fe oxide surface layer. H₂ and ethane TPR evidence that the shell inhibits Fe₂O₃ reduction and decreases the ethane combustion activity of the fully oxidized catalyst. Covering the Fe₂O₃ core with MoO₃ also increases ODH activity and ethylene selectivity. In cyclic redox mode at 600 °C, ethylene selectivity was 57–62% for catalysts with 3 and 6 ML equivalents of MoO₃.

与用于乙烯生产的常规蒸汽裂解法相比，乙烷的氧化脱氢（ODH）可大幅降低能耗和相关的温室气体排放。然而，使用共进料的O ₂催化乙烷的ODH需要昂贵的空气分离。作为替代方案，我们正在研究利用晶格氧（O ^2-）作为唯一氧化剂并以循环氧化还原模式运行的新型核-壳型催化剂。在这项工作中，具有的MoO的1,3和6的单层（ML）当量氧化还原催化剂₃上的α-Fe ₂ ö ₃和化学计量钼酸铁，铁₂（的MoO ₄）₃制备后，通过粉末X射线衍射（XRD），X射线光电子能谱（XPS），漫反射红外傅里叶变换光谱（DRIFTS）和程序升温还原（TPR）对其进行了表征，并评估了乙醇中的ODH含量。 600°C时的循环氧化还原模式。表征数据与具有混合的Mo-Fe氧化物表面层的煅烧的MoO ₃ / Fe ₂ O ₃催化剂的核-壳结构一致。H ₂和乙烷TPR证明壳抑制了Fe ₂ O _3的还原并降低了完全氧化催化剂的乙烷燃烧活性。用MoO ₃覆盖Fe ₂ O ₃芯还增加了ODH活性和乙烯的选择性。在600°C的循环氧化还原模式下，对于3和6 ML当量的MoO ₃，催化剂的乙烯选择性为57-62％。